Trip Report: Solomon Islands
Visited in May 2023
I screwed up a bit with the Solomon Islands.
This group of islands in the Pacific was my fifth and final country on a trip that had previously taken me to Qatar, Philippines, Palau and Papua New Guinea. When I booked this trip, I couldn’t resist the temptation to book flights from Papua New Guinea to Solomon Islands – even though the outbound and return flights were on consecutive days, which would only give me a little over 24 hours in the country.
However, I thought I might as well take advantage of this opportunity while I was so close to the Solomon Islands. After all, it is a country in Oceania, an area I don’t visit very often. Besides, I can’t spend two weeks in every country if I want to complete my 197 project in a timely manner. I knew it would be one of those visits that I would not be very proud of. But in the end, this 197-project is like football/soccer. Sometimes you have to win dirty with an undeserved goal in injury time.
What also helped my decision was the fact that there aren’t that many things to do and see on Guadalcanal, the main island of Solomon Islands, where also the capital Honiara is located, that I would call interesting. Although the island is not exactly small, I did not find it easy to find any things that I really wanted to see or experience. For this reason, I thought about 24 hours wasn’t so bad.
Maybe I should have invested a bit more time in my research, because when I had already booked the trip, I learned through a fellow traveler that you can take day trips to Roderick Bay. There is a sunken cruise ship at this location where you can take epic pictures. Maybe the most instagrammable place in the whole country.
But well, I could live with missing this place. With my short time, I just had to make sure that I optimize my time as much as possible. For this reason, I went in search of a tour guide or a driver who would pick me up directly at the airport at 10:50am and then start the tour with me to the sights directly from there.
This proved to be a challenge that I finally could not overcome. I actually collected around 8-9 contacts for a guide or driver that I got either on message boards or through personal recommendations. I messaged these on Facebook or Whatsapp, but no one, really no one responded to me. Not even the tourist office, which I emailed twice, answered me.
So my new plan was to just arrive and look for a cab at the airport. Somehow it would work out. But this plan was again not easy. When I arrived in Port Moresby at the airport, I learned that the flight had a delay of two hours. The reason for this was a delayed plane from Hong Kong to Port Moresby with 55 passengers who also had the Solomon Islands as their final destination. Due to this large number of passengers, the plane decided to wait.
Finally, the delay was three hours. This was also because the Chinese did not consider it necessary to change the plane as quickly as possible. From the moment the first and the last of the 55 passengers boarded the Fokker 70 of Air Niugini, about 45 minutes passed. I was not amused. My arrival in the Solomon Islands was thus postponed from 10.50am to 1.20pm, reducing my stay in the country to 22 hours. A rather long immigration line and a disastrous road from the airport to the city made sure that I arrived at the hotel only at 2.15pm.
I do not want to withhold two interesting details from the airport. First, there is an observation deck, where dozens of people are waiting and, so to speak, represent the welcome committee for arriving guests. Like in Tuvalu, only that the observation deck in Honiara looks like a prison.
In addition, there was a beautiful billboard right when you entered the terminal. These are drawings by primary school students who had the task of depicting the attractiveness of their country in pictures. Most beautiful billboard I have ever seen at an airport and a nice change from the typical ads you would see at any European airport.
At the airport, and also on the way to the hotel, I realized how strong the influence of China is in this country. First, virtually all the passengers on my flight were Chinese. Second, the driver told me that many houses and most stores are now owned by Chinese. When I searched Honiara on Google Maps a few days before my arrival, I even found that there is a Chinatown in the city.
I knew beforehand that the Solomon Islands are now heavily dependent on China. Years ago, there were already riots from the locals who did not like the fact that there are suddenly so many Chinese in the country. Furthermore, Solomon Islands recently signed a military cooperation agreement with China, much to the annoyance of Australia and the USA.
My hotel was the Coral Sea Resort & Casino, one of only a few hotels you can find on Booking.com. Also, one of the few with a decent rating, which unfortunately comes with a price of about $150 USD per night. However, the rooms and also the premises were nice, so I would take this hotel again. I didn’t have much time for the hotel though. Already at check-in I told the receptionist to organize a cab to pick me up in 15 minutes. The price of the cab at the time of writing was SBD 100 per hour, or about $12, which I thought was okay.
As soon as my cab driver arrived, I hopped into the car and used the few hours before sunset to visit some places in Guadalcanal. For example, the American and Japanese War Memorial, two of the biggest sights in the country. The main attractions of Solomon Islands are definitely any war memorials or World War II relics.
By the way, both places offer a great view over Honiara. Guadalcanal is a rather hilly island and both memorials are located on one of these hills. I almost found the views more worthwile than the memorials itself. The American memorial was free by the way, while the Japanese one cost 50 SBD.
I also visited some beaches on the way to the west of the island. My driver said that he could recommend Kakambona and Lela Beach among others, both of which I perceived as quite dirty and anything but beautiful. However, there was quite a bit going on especially at Lela Beach and there were only locals hanging out at the beach.
Those who read my Papua New Guinea report probably remember the betel nuts that the locals chew. In Solomon Islands, this happened on a completely different level. Here, practically every second person had bright red teeth from these nuts, which you can buy everywhere at street stalls.
My driver chewed these nuts while driving me around. Actually quite astonishing, since this actually is a kind of drug. “How many do you chew per day?” I asked, expecting it to be about three to four. “Forty to fifty!” was his response. “Holy shit, you chew 40-50 betel nuts per day? That’s like three an hour!” But my driver said he felt sleepy if he didn’t chew any.
By the way, we didn’t visit any other beaches after two, although there would have been some. However, in the Solomon Islands it’s like in most countries in the Pacific: the land belongs to the families and when you enter it, in many cases you pay an entrance fee. So the beaches quickly cost 40-50 Solomon dollars, which is about 5-6 USD. Each time to pay this amount were not worth it to me, especially since they were not very beautiful.
What also struck me were the super-bad roads on this island. They currently completely renovate the road from the airport to Honiara, because in November this year, the Pacific Games 2023 take place in Honiara. This is a kind of Olympic Games in the Pacific. The other roads I saw in the country were full of potholes and generally not in good condition.
The afternoon passed relatively quickly. I have seen some things, but there was not enough time for every attraction. Since I flew back to Port Moresby the next day at 11.40am, I had a little bit of time in the morning to see more of Guadalcanal. “Pick me up at the hotel in the morning,” I said to Peter, my driver. “I know it’s Sunday, I know it’s early, but take 6-7 betel nuts and you’ll be fine.”
That morning we drove to Galloping Horse Ridge and Bloody Ridge, where two important battles took place during WW2. We eventually skipped Galloppsis Horse Ridge because it would have required a hike up a hill. Based on the height of the hill, I would have estimated about 30-45 minutes each way, and. I simply didn’t have time for that (because I had a flight).
Bloody Ridge is close to the airport though and you can drive there. Solomon Islands has now made this place a national park that you can visit without an entrance fee. Certainly an interesting place for history buffs or for those who want to enjoy beautiful landscapes.
Shortly afterwards I reached the airport again, where I also experienced an interesting story. But first, a little resume about my stay in the Solomon Islands. As I said in the introduction, I feel like I screwed up a bit with this country. Although I saw most of what I wanted to see (in fact, due to time constraints, I only missed the Vilu Military Museum), I kind of feel like I didn’t really experience the country. It’s not just the number of hours I had in the country, by the way. Because even with my shorter layover on this trip in Qatar, I felt like I felt the country better.
Would it have made any difference if my flight from Port Moresby had been on time? Maybe it would have. Two to three extra hours can make quite a difference in the end. When I booked the flight and even up to the time of my trip, I tracked this route regularly. Partly because I was afraid that I would once again be stuck somewhere in the Pacific. Anyway, the flight was on time almost every time. So I was just unlucky.
In retrospect, it would have been smarter to spend two days on Guadalcanal. But that was not possible with the flights, because the flight between Port Moresby and Honiara is not daily. It would certainly have been the better option to spend a day less in Port Moresby. And one day more in Honiara. But that’s the way it is. As I have already written, sometimes it is like in football, sometimes you have to win dirty. And that was the case with the Solomon Islands.
Basically I have to say that I would count Solomon Islands rather to the less interesting countries in Oceania. Since I neither dive nor am over-enthusiastic about the world war relics, the country doesn’t offer that much for me. Sure, I didn’t really have much time for this conclusion either. However, I knew before my trip that the Solomon Islands would not excite me as much as Vanuatu, for example. At least, in terms of things to do in the country.
To mention a few positive things: I found the people to be very nice in this country. Besides, I found the Solomon Islands cheaper than many other countries in the Pacific. On the negative side, I must mention that Honiara was for me the least attractive city I have seen so far in the Pacific countries. And the infrastructure was also among the worst in the region. Nevertheless, my visit was an interesting one and I was able to collect some impressions of the country.
The end of my visit had one more surprise in store. After I had already spent a few extra days in a country (once in Tuvalu, once in Vanuatu) on each of my first two trips to Oceania, it could almost have happened a third time in the Solomon Islands.
I had already done the check-in online, but I still had to print out my boarding pass at the counter. When I was standing in line at the counter, there was an announcement that due to “operational reasons” the check-in can not continue until the Air Niugini plane from Port Moresby would land. I have never heard anything like that before either. However, since I had no desire to wait in this check in-hall with no seats, I asked if I could go to the gates with my electronic boarding pass.
The lady at the desk said no, but she would print out my boarding pass. “You’re lucky you checked in online. There are no more seats available because we had to use a smaller plane.” It took me a few moments to realize that I was now almost stranded again in the Pacific. I probably would have missed the flight home to Europe. “That means all the people in line here can’t fly?” She answered in the affirmative with an evil grin.
Later on the plane, the last to enter were two men wearing suits and two men who looked like secret service, security or something. They turned out to be the presidents of Solomon Islands and Kiribati. Maybe their (last-minute?) flight booking was also the reason why there was no more room for some passengers. Because the plane didn’t look smaller to me than the one from the outbound flight.
The moral of the story? Always, always check in online, whether it gives you an advantage or not. For me, anyway, it was the end of my third trip to Oceania. Nauru, Kiribati, Marshall Islands and Federal States of Micronesia are the last four countries in what I consider the most difficult region in the world to travel.
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